Lifetime Love
by Just-Absolutely-Super
Summary: In a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, they'd find each other. [NaLu Week Day Two: Reunion]


**Shit I do at 2 in the morning:** get a plot bunny and decide that I'll forget it the next day unless I write down everything at that moment. Worth it.

Also, reincarnation AUs (with a dab of soulmate AU) gives me life. Enjoy!

 **Disclaimer:** Don't own FT.

* * *

 _"And I'd choose you; in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I'd find you and I'd choose you."_

 _―_ ** _Kiersten White_** _,_ ** _The Chaos of Stars_**

* * *

He's a primitive hunter, having never once laid eyes on the creature that is woman and he's so, so, _so_ intrigued by this strange being that he can't help but want to possess her as his own.

She's from the neighboring village, having never once seen a man yet knows from stories how barbaric and—according to Erza— _stupid_ they can be.

He and his tribe are not helping their kind's case judging from how incapacitated they become just from looking at her breasts.

He's rude, crass, and doesn't know a damn _thing_ about personal space and respect to boundaries.

Yet, as he touches her head and tells her she is his, Lucy can't help the warmth that flushes her cheeks and fills her chest.

Doesn't stop her from giving him a hard kick to the groin though.

* * *

The world is ending.

The world is ending and she can't bring herself to care because everything and everyone is dying right before her eyes.

Her right hand is gone, torn away by the jaws of a bloodthirsty dragon. These dragons aren't the same dragons her mother would tell stories of—the ones that were adventurous and kind should you not threaten or double cross them. They don't act like parental figures the dragon slayers would fondly reminisce about. They're _horrid_ and they want nothing more than to kill all of humanity.

It seems her time is drawing to a close as she watches one of the beasts spew fire at her. She's exhausted—emotionally and physically—unable to bring herself to just pick herself up and _run_.

Then _he_ comes to her side. He's eating up the flames. He's being his bold and _stupid_ self by challenging these monsters.

He's protecting her.

And all she can do is cry out and sob his name in anguish as he falls right before her eyes.

* * *

It's the same world as the previous, but a different timeline. A timeline where their future has been saved and secured by another version of herself who came to warn her friends and save them—save _him_.

She's happy. She's with people who love her. Her life—once dreary and stagnant with high class, pompous pigs who care about nothing but status and money—is full of life and adventure and so many stories to tell.

It's perfect.

Until it's not.

The world is at risk of ending again (funny how she has to say the word "again") and they are at war with a whole other _country_ with so many strong mages, their leader being the most powerful and dangerous mage of all.

She has to fight to keep herself calm and not hyperventilate.

Because not only is the actual world at risk of ending, but the boy who is _her_ entire world is E.N.D.

And she's terrified that should they win, she'll lose him forever.

* * *

Her first day at Fairy Tail Academy and she gets water dunked over her.

There's some pink-haired asshole complaining about her getting in the way of his prank, saying that the bucket of water over the door was supposed to be for some person named Gray. He then goes on to call her a weirdo, which she doesn't take too kindly to.

To say the least, her first day at her dream school was spent in detention with this rude Yankee. Him for the water bucket and her for kicking him out of the third story window. She's trying to get some homework done when suddenly he's leaning over his desk toward her, a hand poised by his mouth as if he's going to tell her a secret.

"Psst."

She ignores him.

"Psssst."

She is a patient woman, she will not cave in.

" _Pssssssssssssst!_ "

"Oh my GOD, what do you _WANT_?!"

"Geez, calm down you weirdo," the delinquent says before laughing at her. She silently scolds herself for losing her cool so fast, "I was just wondering if you had any gum."

She sighs and digs in her schoolbag. Hopefully giving him what he wants will make him leave her alone.

"Thanks!" he says cheerfully, a face-splitting grin coming across his face. She blames the sun radiating through the windows next to her for heating up her face because there's _no way_ this guy would be the cause of it. Of course not!

"My name's Natsu. What's yours?"

She contemplates not telling him, but the sincerity on his face is so open she can't help but reply, "Lucy."

"Cool! Nice to meet you, Luigi!"

"I SAID LUCY!"

"No talking in detention!" says the talking blue cat who Lucy is still baffled to learn is a teacher at this school. Why did she want to come here again?

* * *

Sometimes she has odd dreams.

Some nights she'll find herself in prehistoric times, living in a tribe made up of only females. Others she's the princess locked in a castle. Some dreams take her to different points in history. And a few take her to where she seems to live in a modern world but her occupation is always different—student, florist, teacher, nurse, trapeze artist, and many more.

Her favorite of these dreams, though, are the ones where magic exists.

She finds herself too beautiful in these dreams. Her magic allows her to command the stars themselves as she goes on many adventures, doing as she pleases, and making lifelong friends along the way.

It's like something out of a fairy tale.

These types of dreams aren't always happy though. She's often woken up in tears because of the horrors she's witnessed, the friends she's made in these dreams dying and being taken away from her.

One friend in particular always manages to shatter her heart in some way as he appears in _every single one of her dreams_.

He's her best friend. Sometimes it doesn't always start out that way, but she feels a connection to him. She _knows_ him. And in each dream, she knows deep in her heart that she's in love with him too.

She wishes she remembered the details of these dreams. Once she wakes up his face and his name escape her. It's rather tragic.

She finds herself lost in thought with each new dream. More often than not she'll ponder if they are memories of her past lives. If so, who is the boy? Why is it he always appears in each life? A soulmate perhaps?

Lucy shakes her head at where her head has taken her this time. How childish of her, thinking a literal "man of her dreams" is her supposed soulmate. Ridiculous. If it were true she'd have met him in her current lifetime, right?

With a sigh, Lucy gets up from the table she was sitting at at her favorite café and makes her way home. No use dwelling on fantasies like past lives and finding your true love.

She decides to cut through the park. There's a path she likes to walk through where the leaves of the trees fall around her. It's a very pretty spot no matter the season, and since it's summer it will help shade her from the burning hot sun. As she walks her mind betrays her and she's once again thinking of her dreams, last night's dream in particular.

In it she felt very heavy and uncomfortable. There was pain too, blinding white-hot pain through her abdomen. She heard crying around her but was unable to pinpoint who exactly were shedding the tears.

At some point during this, she realized that she was dying— _was_ dead. The realization still sends shivers down her spine, but as soon as it happened the pain was gone and the she no longer felt heavy, but light.

The darkness gave way and she found herself in a beautiful field, where the grass was golden in color and it could have gone on for miles and miles.

Then there was a voice, speaking to her, greeting her as if she had been gone for a long time. She turned to see a shadowy figure—her supposed soulmate, she deduced, for even if his face and name are unknown to her, she'd know his carefree tone of voice in any dream—and he ran to her, grabbing her wrist (that slowly slipped to her hand) and calling out to her.

 _"Let's continue on our adventure."_

She smiles at the memory, mostly because dream her was so happy despite the tears streaming down her cheeks.

So caught up in her thoughts, she doesn't notice a person in front of her barreling his way toward the direction she's coming from. It isn't until a flash of pink reaches her eyes that she falters a bit in her steps.

"Hey!"

She halts. This voice is familiar to her. Like she's heard it before. Many, many times.

She slowly turns around and is met with the sight of a boy around her age. He has pink-hair, slanted eyes, and is wearing a scarf. _Odd,_ she thinks, _it's a bit warm for an accessory like that._

Realizing he's waiting for her to acknowledge him, she straightens up, "Uhh, yes? Can I help you?"

He's regarding her with dark eyes. She has to fight a shiver because the way he's looking at her makes her feel like he's staring into her soul. _Like maybe he's trying to figure out if he knows her._

"What's your name?" he asks. She balks at the question. Who just stops random people and ask for their names?

She should go, this guy is strange and she's always been told to get far away from strange people—men especially—but she can't bring herself to. Something's pulling her to him and she's frustrated at why she can't explain it.

"Lucy."

Her answer triggers something in him because his dark eyes suddenly light up and his face splits as he gives her this big, big, _big_ grin. Her breath catches in her throat. He has a nice smile. She _knows_ this smile.

" _Lucy_ ," he says, and the way he says her name—so loving, so tender, _so familiar_ —Lucy can feel her cheeks warm up and her chest tighten as she feels butterflies in her stomach. And, oh Lord, are these _tears_ she feels welling up in her eyes?

Before she knows it, he's in front of her, that joyful smile still on his face. Lucy can't help the tears from slipping out now as she finds herself studying his face. She sees that he feels the same familiarity as her. And that he's figured out why she's familiar to him. As she continues to stare, the memories of her odd dreams flit through her mind.

A primitive man, discovering woman for the first time.

A destructive wizard, commanding flames and taking out many strong opponents.

A powerful demon brought back to life by his elder brother and sealed away in a book.

A high school delinquent who played pranks and pestered her for gum.

Her best friend.

Her constant companion in each dream.

The man she knows in her heart she's in love with.

" _Natsu_."

If possible, the grin gets wider. She returns it with full force.

"Hey Luce. Long time, no see."

* * *

 **AN:** I would have liked to have put in other scenarios where Lucy and Natsu meet, but I really wanted to stick with canon material (omakes, F!Lucy's timeline, the current storyline, and Ending 15 of the anime—the last "life" the fic portrays), so I snuck in references to other AUs at one point.

I think I'll participate in Day 3 of the Week as I have an idea of what I want to write, but it might be my last contribution. That is, unless inspiration strikes me in the middle of the night again (lol).

Drop me a review and tell me what you think! Happy NaLu Week!


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